Portable air conditioner for rooms



March 30, 1937. c. G.- VRETMAN 2,075,384

V PORTABLE AIR CONDITIONER FOR ROOMS FilGd June 4, 1956 Cari 5: Vr'eimrg UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PORTABLE AIR CONDITIONER roa Rooms 1 I Carl Vretman, Atlanta, Ga., assignor of onetenth to Robert H. Fulton, Atlanta, Ga., and fine-tenth to W. Kenneth Watkins, New York,

Application June 4, 1936, Serial No. 83,580

7 Claims. (01. 183-17) This invention relates to portable air condicentralpart of the upper wall of air box 1. If tioners for rooms and has for an object to prodesired this bearing may be athrust, bearing vide a simple and inexpensive device for humidfor supporting the shaft. The lower end of this ifying and cleaning the air in a room. shaft is coupled to the upper end of a vertically A further object of this invention is to pro-' extending hollow shaft or pipe I! mounted ro-' 5 vide a device for humidifying the air in a room tatably' in a bearing l9- which maybe supported without plumbing connections whereby the cost by the bottom wall of air box I. If the conof construction. and installation is minimized. nection between shaft I5 and'pipe" I! is sufii- Another object of this invention is'to provide ciently rigid to prevent wabble the bearing I9 10 an efficient humidifier of simple form in which may be omitted, in which case pipe I] simply l0 the air in extremely small bubbles is passed passes through an opening in the bottom wall through a body of water and washed and huot'the' air box.

- midified. The lower end of pipe I1 is rotatably supported Another object of this invention is to provide by a bearing 2| at the central part of the bottom a simple and convenient apparatus operated by wall oi the water vessel portion 2 of the casing 15' a single electric motor for filtering, washing, hu- I. In case the bearing I6 is constructed as a midifying, and circulating the air in a. room. thrust bearing, the bearing 2| may be an ordinary Further objects and advantages of the invenbearing for merely guiding thelower end of pipe tion will be apparent from the following detailed II, but bearing 2| may also be a thrust bearing,

description and the accompanying drawing. especially if bearing I6 is an ordinary bearing. 2 In the drawing: At the upper portion of the pipe I! at a point Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view'of an emwithin filtered'air box 1, between the filters 8 bodiment of this invention; a the pipe is provided with one or more openings Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 22 through which filtered air may enter the pipe. II1I of Fig. 1; and In order to facilitate the entry of air into pipe 25 Fig. 3 is a plan view of a detail on line III-III I! through these openings curved air scoops 24 of Fig. 1. may be provided adjacent the openings. At the ,The portable air conditioner comprises 2. caslower end of pipe II a dasher member 25 is ing designated generally by numeral I, the lower mounted-on the pipe to rotate therewith. The part of the casing constituting a vessel 2 adapted. dasher comprises a pair of hollow, oppositely ex- 30 to be filled with water through an opening 3 tending arms having their outer ends curved having a removable screw cap 4. rearwardly with, respect to the direction of ro- Above the water vessel section, the walls of .tation. At the bottom edge of the water vessel the casing'are provided with one or more open- 2, a plurality of stationary blades 26 extend inings, shown in the drawing as a pair of oppowardly forvthe purpose of reducing the motion 3 sitely disposed openings 6. Between these open-- of the water which has a tendency to rotate ings extends an open-ended box-like chamber under the influence of rotating dasher 25.

l, the open ends of which are covered or filled Before starting the device in operation the by removable filters 8 of any suitable filtering water vessel 2 should be filled with water sub- 40 material adapted toremove foreign matter, such stantially to the level of inlet opening 3 and 40 as dust and pollen, from the air passing therethe cap I screwed tightly closed. The motor l3 through. The filters may be made of such mais then connected with a suitable source of electerials as glass wool, metal wool, mineral wool, trio-power, whereby the fan l0, pipe II and or other materials adapted to accomplish the dasher 25 are caused to rapidly rotate. The desired purpose. The upper wall of the filtered fan produces an upward current of air and draws 45 air box or chamber I is provided with one or air into the air box andcasing through filters 8. more filtered air outlet openings 9. Part of the air entering through the filters passes In the upper part of the casing a fan It) is into the openings 22, down through pipe I1, and mounted in position to blow a current of air outwardly through dashers 25 from whence it upwardly through an opening ll in the top of is distributed into the water in extremely small 50 the casing. The fan is driven by an electric bodies or bubbles. These small bubbles rising motor l3 which is supported by brackets l2 havthrough the water absorb the water to substaning their lower ends attached to the top wall It tial saturation. Upon reaching the water surface of the filtered air box I. This motor also drives this moist air passes upwardly through passages a shaft l5 journalled' in a bearing l6 in the at the sides of air box I and mixes with the 55 current of air passing upwardly through the openings 9 under the-influence of fan Ill, whereby the moisture content of the air passing out of the casing is higher than when drawn in through the filters B.

The air which passes down through pipe 41 seems to be acted on by three forces; firstly, the pressure produced by the rotating air scoops 24;

secondly, the centrifugal force of the air in the hollow dashers 25; and, thirdly, the impeller ac tion of the rearwardly directed end portions of the dashers passing through the relatively stationary water. This last force particularly has the effect of drawing the air from the ends of the dashers in finely-attenuated condition, producing very small bubbles and thereby providing a maximum contact area between the air and water.

What I claim is:

1. A portable air conditioner comprising a casing, the lower portion of said casing comprising a vessel for containing water, said casing having an opening for filling said vessel, a fan in the upper portion of the casing for producing an upward current of air, a filter in a wall of said casing between said watervessel 'and said fan, whereby said 'fan draws air into the casing through said filter, and forces said air outwardly from the upper portion of said casing, and rotating means for conducting part of the filtered air downwardly beneath the surface of the water and releasing it there in the form of small bodies to return to the water surface and mix with the current of air passing outwardly from the upper end of the casing.

2. In an air cleaner and humidifier, a portable casing, having an air inlet opening in a side wall and an air outlet opening in its upper portion, a filter covering the inlet opening, a fan in said casing above said inlet opening, an electric motor for driving said fan, the lower portion of said casing below said filter comprising a water-containing vessel, a hollow. rotary shaft connected with said motor to be rotated thereby, said shafthaving an inlet opening adjacent said filter, the lower portion of said shaft beneath the water surface having ahollow radially directed arm in communication with the hollow 'of said shaft, and having anair outlet opening at a point radially spaced from said shaft.

3. In an air cleaner and humidifier, a portable casing, having an air inlet opening in aside wall and an air outlet opening in its upper portion, a filter covering the inlet opening, a fan in said casing'above said inlet opening, an electric motor for driving said fan, the lower portion of said casing below said filter comprising a water-containing vessel, a hollow rotary shaft, connected basing, having an air inlet opening in a side wall and an air outlet opening in filter covering theinlet opening, a fan in said casing above said inlet opening, an electric motor for driving said fan,'the lower portion; of said casing below said filter comprising a water-containing vessel, a hollow rotary shaft connected with said motor to be rotated thereby, said shaft having an inlet opening adjacent said filter, the lower portion of said shaft beneath the water surface having a hollow radially directed arm in communication with the hollow of said shaft,

and having an air outlet opening at a point radially spaced from said shaft, the air outlet openingot said arm being rearwardly directed relative to the direction of turning.

its-upper portion, a

5. In an air cleaner and humidifier, a portable casing, having an air inlet opening in a side wall and an air outlet opening in its upper portion, a filter covering the inlet opening, a fan in said casing above said inlet.opening,-an electric motor for driving said fan, the lower portion of said casing below said filter comprising a water-containing vessel, a hollow rotary shaft connected with, said motor to .be rotated thereby,

. said shaft having an inlet opening adjacent said filter, the lower portion of said shaft beneath the water surface having a hollow radially directed arm in communication with the hollow of said shaft, and having an airoutlet opening at a point radially spaced from said shaft, and a stationary vane extending inwardly from the casing adjacent said hollow arm.

6'. In an air cleaner and humidifier, a portable casing, having an air inlet opening in a side wall and an air outlet opening in its upper portion, a filter covering the inlet opening, a mum said casing above said inlet opening, an electric motor for driving said fan, the lower portion of said casing below said filter comprising a water-containing vessel, a hollowrotary shaft connected with said motor to be rotated thereby, said shaft having an inlet opening adjacent said filter, the lower portion of said shaft beneath the water surface having a hollow radially directed arm in communication with the hollow of said shaft, having an air outlet opening at a point radially spaced from said shaft, and a thrust bearing rotatably supporting the lower end of said shaft on the bottom of said casing.

7. In an air cleaner and humidifier, a portable casing, having an air inlet opening in a side wall and an air outlet openingin its upper portion,

a filter covering the-inlet opening, a fan in said casing above said inlet opening, an electric motor for driving said fan, the lower portion of saidv casing below said filter comprising a water-containing vessel, a hollow rotary shaft connected with said motor to be rotated thereby, saidishaft having an inlet opening adjacent said filter, the lower portion of said shaft beneath the water surface having a hollow radially directed arm in communication with the hollow of said shaft,

having an air outlet opening at a point radially spaced from said shaft, and an air scoop adjacent the air inlet of said shaft for forcing filtered air into and through saidshaft.

' CARL G. VRE'I'MAN. 

